Spooky season is upon us. While many get into the spirit by hanging decorations, going to Halloween parties, or taking on the scariest haunted houses, there’s a more immersive ghostly activity to partake in: staying at a real-life haunted hotel. Historic Hotels of America recently ranked the most haunted hotels in the country for those looking to experience the paranormal in a historic location.
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This Massachusetts Hotel Was Just Ranked the Country's Most Haunted
These top 25 most haunted hotels are sites where not only historical monuments are located, but the hotels mentioned are where guests and employees keep the haunted going by passing down spooky stories of what came before. Sometimes that’s Revolutionary War soldiers who don’t seem to want to leave this plane of existence, other times it’s apparitions of presidents and other important figures. And don’t forget the tall tales of never-to-be brides that leave bumps and footsteps in the night.
The Concord’s Colonial Inn in Concord, Massachusetts, is the most haunted hotel in the ranking. It opened in 1716, and part of this inn was privately owned by Dr. Timothy Minot. During the Revolutionary War, part of the Concord Colonial Inn was used as a medical practice and was where Dr. Timothy Minot operated and aided Continental soldiers who were injured in the Battles of Lexington and Concord. Soldiers were brought to Dr.Timothy, where he used what is now the Liberty Room as a hospital, and the operating room is now known as Room 24. On a less grusome note, the inn also served as a variety store and residence where Henry David Thoreau stayed while he attended Harvard. Many guests, as well as employees, have spotted spirits throughout the Concord Colonial Inn. Room 24 is the infamous room with the most ghost sightings and activity.
Many have seen a sighting of an older woman and a tall, slim man with a top hat sighting in the room, and many believe this to be former resident Henry David Thoreau and his aunt. Others have spotted a young girl wearing a bonnet walking around the hotel’s front desk area, or appropriations of ghosts in 18th-century attire sitting in the Liberty Room. Books, decor, and other items have been reported as falling from shelves seemingly on their own. Along with different odd experiences like hearing voices when no one is there, things going missing, and randomly turning up in strange places.
While the Colonial Inn took the top spot, there are haunted hotels across the country to stay at year-round.
The 2023 Top 25 Historic Hotels of America Most Haunted Hotels List
- Concord’s Colonial Inn: Concord, Massachusetts (1716)
- The Omni Homestead Resort: Hot Springs, Virginia (1766)
- Historic Inns of Annapolis: Annapolis, Maryland (1772)
- The Red Lion Inn Stockbridge, Massachusetts (1773)
- The Sayre Mansion: Bethlehem, Pennsylvania (1858)
- The Menger Hotel: San Antonio, Texas (1859)
- Hotel Monteleone: New Orleans, Louisiana (1886)
- 1886 Crescent Hotel and Spa: Eureka Springs, Arkansas (1886)
- Jekyll Island Club Resort: Jekyll Island, Georgia (1887)
- Casa Monica Resort and Spa: St. Augustine, Florida (1888)
- Hotel del Coronado: Coronado, California (1888)
- Airlie: Warrenton, Virginia (1899)
- Omni Mount Washington: Bretton Woods, New Hampshire (1902)
- Omni Grove Park Inn: Ashville, North Carolina (1913)
- Claremont Club and Spa, A Fairmont Hotel: Berkeley, California (1915)
- La Fonda on the Plaza: Santa Fe, New Mexico (1922)
- The Emily Morgan San Antonio, a DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel: San Antonio, Texas (1924)
- Hawthorne Hotel: Salem, Massachusetts (1925)
- The Hotel Viking: Newport, Rhode Island (1926)
- Hotel Saranac, Curio Collection by Hilton: Saranac Lake, New York (1927)
- Hassayampa Inn: Prescott, Arizona (1927)
- Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center: Baton Rouge, Louisiana (1927)
- Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa: Sonoma, California (1927)
- The Wort Hotel: Jackson, Wyoming (1941)
- Tubac Golf Resort and Spa: Tubac, Arizona (1959)
